Hellfire
by renwhit
Summary: This is something most do not know about elementals: they are bred for war. (Warning for violence and war. Grillby backstory based off the popular fan theory that he fought in the human war. Don't get confused, he's called Flame now because of how elementals are treated, he'll be Grillby later)
1. Chapter 1

This is something most do not know about elementals: they are bred for war.

Perhaps bred is the wrong term. There is no biological family for elementals, only the mage that summons them and whichever other elementals they're with in their army.

They are summoned, they are trained, they fight, they die or are banished back to wherever they came from. It's all they know.

When he was first summoned, he was a young boy, healthy and strong. His flame was bright and his shoulders, not yet as broad as they would eventually be, were squared and alert.

His first emotion was a fierce need to protect the woman he saw before him. She was a bipedal cat, draped in deep maroon robes and exhausted from summoning him. Her rings glinted as she pointed to the wall, catching light from the few sources in the room. "Join the others."

He turned and saw a line of elementals, as young and strong as he. Ice, wood, water, rock, and more stood silently, waiting for orders. Making sure to stand far from the ice elemental, he faced the mages in the room, who seemed finished summoning. They were all stooped, tired, and old, as if they were days from melting into dust.

"Elementals!" called someone he had not noticed. They were tall and broad-shouldered, weighted with silver armor, and perhaps something more. "You have been summoned to protect more than the mages in front of you."

More than his mage? What could be more important than the woman responsible for his existence?

"You have been summoned to protect the fate of all of monsterkind. Humans refuse to allow us land that is rightfully ours, destroying peace we have maintained for eons. They wish to destroy us all. We must fight, or we will die. I refuse to let that happen."

The monster before him closed their eyes and sighed, collecting their thoughts.

"I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. You were created to fight, and fight you will. First, however, you must be trained. All of you, follow me."

Every elemental dutifully followed them out of the heavy cloth tent. The transition from the smoky dark of it to the bright sunlight outside was nearly blinding. Wind softly brushed him, and the sweet smell of grass and growing things filled the air, but both were unimportant compared to the presence of the soldier before him. A bored looking monster came by and handed each elemental tattered linen pants and shirts.

The soldier turned away as they all dressed. "Wind! We have more for you to train."

An alert looking elemental jogged over, made of swirling air in a vaguely bipedal shape. She looked over the line before her.

"Cyprus says I am to train you. I am Wind. You will all be referred to as your element until you die or are banished. Until that happens, you will fight. I will be the one to teach you how." She turned to Cyprus, who nodded and waved a scaly hand. Looking back at the elementals, she calmly gestured for them to follow her.

The camp was bustling with life. Monsters rushed to and fro, delivering messages and sharpening blades and fletching arrows. Young hopefuls were checked over for health and strength, that they may too join the army.

None of the elementals received these tests. Their only purpose was to kill. If they failed and died, another one could always be summoned.

Elementals were both powerful and expendable. The perfect soldiers.

The group reached a second tent, open on one side and bare expect a single row of training dummies. Here, they halted, as Wind turned back to them.

"Here, you will begin to learn how to channel your magic. You begin to learn what an elemental is. Our magic is more innate than any other monster, as we are both created with it and made entirely of it. Your mage will watch you train today, along with myself and Cypus, to make sure there are no defective elementals. I would like all of you to stand in front of a dummy. When I say begin, start attacking. Later, you will learn how to incorporate your magic with weaponry, but for now simply focus on summoning it and using it."

Flame turned and walked quickly to the nearest dummy. It was incredibly simple, canvas and straw in a vaguely humanoid shape.

All around him, everyone attacked. Ice, a few elementals down, summoned spikes of ice to drive into their target's chest. Water chose to use a single long stream to blast the dummy into the far wall. Rock pulled earth up on either side of the dummy, then brought each slab together to crush it.

Flame considered his options. A few short blasts of fire to knock his target down? A single stream of fire to scorch it? No, those were minor. He needed to obliterate it, to really show his capabilities.

With a few instinctual gestures, he summoned a wall of pure flame in front of him. It was over six feet tall, and radiated heat.

A single push, and it raced towards the dummy. The fire was so hot that the canvas began to smoke and curl even before it was touched.

The dry straw and old cloth was no match for his fire. It immediately caught, and burnt away to almost nothing in only a few moments. As soon as there was nothing left but smoldering ashes, Flame turned to seek his mage's approval.

Her eyes were wide. Had he done something wrong? But no, soon after she nodded and murmured to a few of her fellow mages, tail twitching. It didn't matter what she was talking about, or why she looked so surprised. If she thought Flame needed to know, she'd tell him.

Flame glanced at the other elementals. Most had completed their task, though a few were still finishing up. Only one elemental was still struggling.

Mud was doing everything right. He had a solid stance and correct movements. However, his magic simply wasn't responding. Dirt swished beneath the dummy, but it wasn't powerful enough to even jostle it.

"Mud!" called Cyprus. "Stop." Mud immediately froze, dropping his hands to his sides and straightening. Cyprus rustled their wings, thinking hard. "There are a few elementals here than can become strong with work. However, we don't have time to train you. Whoever summoned him, banish him back, kill him, whichever is faster. We need to move on."

An ashamed looking vine monster stepped forwards. They gestured to Mud. "Remove your tunic."

Mud did so unquestioningly, revealing the faint glow of his core, the center of elementals that sustained their being. The mage thrust their hand into Mud's chest, grasping the core and removing it, all the while muttering spells. Mud gasped and choked, dropping to his knees.

The mage whispered one last incantation, then crushed his core in their palm.

Mud opened his mouth in what may have turned into a scream, but before he could loose it, he dissolved into a lifeless pile of sludge.

Cyprus curled their lip. "Everyone else, follow me. We've weeded out the weak, now we make the rest of you stronger."

Flame didn't bother to avoid the patch of mud on his way out.


	2. Chapter 2

Training was grueling. The only break they had was for two daily meals, and a short rest at night. No one asked for more. What else would they do, besides train?

Flame took to combat well. He was atrocious with a bow, but could hold his own in hand-to-hand, and was one of the best with swords.

His magic still had a tendency to receive murmurs. However, the only thing he had been told by his mage was that he was "going to be successful."

Success was the only thing that mattered, especially now that they would be heading into their first battle.

"Elementals!" called Cyprus during a swordplay exercise. All weapons were immediately lowered. Cyprus flapped their wings a little, pleased by the quick response.

"A band of humans has been seen roving hills a few miles east. They're getting far too close to this camp for comfort. Scare them off, or if need be, kill them. Let's go!"

Each elemental, already fitted in armor for training, picked up their chosen weapon and followed Cyprus away from the camp, Wind taking the rear.

Flame thought quickly as he followed. Should they simply scare off these humans? Cyprus said only kill them if needed, but what if they were planning a surprise attack? How many humans were there in this group? With him were five other elementals, plus Cyprus and Wind. Were eight enough to win?

Of course they were enough to win. They would win or die.

After a few miles of travel, Cyprus held up their hand to halt them all.

"Alright, everyone. Over this next hill is where the humans are. Reports said ten were seen, but there could be more. Be prepared. We don't need to be quiet here, as the whole point of this is to scare them away, not wipe them out. Don't take unnecessary risks, it's not worth it."

One last glance over the squadron, then Cyprus waved them forward.

Together, they raced over the hill.

The humans were armed, but caught off guard. They hadn't been expecting to be on the defensive. They recovered quickly, however, and rushed to meet their attackers.

Swords clashed and magic filled the air as the two squadrons hit. The humans were not going to be easily frightened away.

Flame covered his sword in fire and struck, hitting one human's helmet with the flat of his blade. The metal hissed in contact with the fire, and the human whirled. Its face was twisted in pain and rage. Flame swung again, not allowing it time to recover. It stumbled back, barely evading a blow that would have cut it across the chest. Managing to recover this time, it lunged and drove its dagger into his shoulder.

He easily knocked it down, surprised that it was brave enough to get into such a close range. The dagger in his shoulder was a nuisance, so he reached up and pulled it out as he planted his foot on the human's chest. Flame didn't understand the shocked look on it's face. The dagger had been painful, yes, but it didn't kill him, so he would keep fighting. Rather than thinking about it further, he raised his own weapon.

"No," gasped the human. "No, please, iwait-/i"

Flame plunged his sword into the human's chest.

Some sort of strange redness came out with his blade. It stained the metal and sizzled when it came in contact with his fire.

The human's body wasn't dissolving. Was it still alive?

He heard footsteps approaching from behind. A quick glance revealed it to be another human, this one not even wearing armor beyond arm bracers. It would soon regret that.

Flame whirled and cut the human deeply across the middle. This time, strange chunks of flesh fell from the wound, along with more of the redness. He jerked back in disgust. Humans were incredibly messy.

This human had already collapsed, also refusing to dissolve. Were they really that strong?

He turned to observe the rest of the battle. Cyprus was flapping their wings and roaring. Threat displays. Three humans were running from the hillside, two were still locked in combat, and four were on the ground. Wind knocked down the one she was fighting with, and it scrambled backwards, then ran to catch up with its companions.

Water had hers pinned. It was still struggling, refusing to be spared, but she wasn't attacking. Why wasn't she attacking?

The human freed one arm, and struck with a small knife. It almost hit, until Cyprus intervened with a powerful blow from their wing. It fell back, gasping. They stepped after it and buried their battle axe in it's back. It stopped moving.

Cyprus spun to face Water, eyes narrow. "What the hell was that?"

"I- I don't know, I just looked at it and I c-couldn't attack, I don't know why," she stuttered.

"If I hadn't killed that thing, it's knife would've hit your core and you'd be dead! Did you want to die?"

Water's hands were trembling. "N-no."

"Then next time, defend yourself." Cyprus heaved a sigh, then put a hand on Water's shoulder. "I understand the desire to show mercy, but we can't always afford to. Spare them only if you're sure of your own safety. Monsters have to come first right now."

Cyprus turned to walk off, muttering, "And I can't afford to lose any more elementals." They turned and waved their hand. "Come on, everyone. Back to camp."

At camp, it was time for dinner. An old turtle monster was standing by the massive cooking pot, occasionally adding this or that to it. With nothing else to do, Flame wandered over to watch.

The man glanced at him with a smile, then turned back to the stew. "I don't think we've met."

Flame shook his head silently.

"Well, I'm Darwyn. What do I call you?"

"I don't have a name."

Darwyn turned to him, confused. "Don't have a name? What kind of poor creature doesn't have a name?"

"Elementals never have names. We're just referred to as our element."

Darwyn shook his head. "No name. S'like you're not even a person."

Flame tilted his head at that. He wasn't, not really. Hadn't this man ever met an elemental before?

"So, why'd you join up?" Darwyn asked. "Honor? Glory? Just trying to get out of the house?"

"I was created to fight," Flame said slowly. "My mage summoned me for battle, and I'll be banished when the war is over."

Darwyn was openly staring. "Only to fight? Don't you do anything else?"

"I train." Now Flame was very confused. What else would he be doing?

Darwyn muttered something to himself. "Well, I'm here with my son. Gerson. He think he's gonna be some big war hero, and I thought, 'well, maybe I can help out too.' 'Cept I'm too old to fight, so I cook."

His son? Flame glanced at the sun sinking on the horizon, then looked back to Darwyn. Surely he didn't mean ithat/i sun.

Catching on to his confusion, Darwyn paused. "My son. S-O-N. My child. Any of this mean anything to you?"

Flame shook his head.

"Family? Parents?"

Another head shake.

Darwyn gave him a long look. "They don't even bother to teach you about family."

"They must have thought it was unnecessary."

"Here, let me try to explain it. You have anyone you care about?"

"I protect all monsters."

"No, beyond that. Someone really special."

Flame thought hard. "I follow Cyprus's orders."

"No, not special like that. Special like... like when you think about protecting everyone, they're your first thought."

Suddenly, someone came to him. "My mage. She created me."

"Exactly! She created you. She's kind of like your parent, in a way."

"So you summoned Gerson?"

"No, my husband and I decided we wanted a kid, so we had Gerson."

"How?"

Darwyn coughed and pulled his head into his shell a little. "Thought I was explaining family here. So what do you think when you think of your mage?"

"She created me, so I protect her."

Darwyn's thick brows furrowed. "Hmm. Not quite like family. Not like Gerson coulda protected anyone 'til about now." He laughed a little.

"Couldn't protect anyone?" Flame asked incredulously.

"Nope! Tiny, fragile little thing for a few years. My husband and I had to protect him. The situations he got himself into..."

"So," Flame said slowly, "he couldn't protect anyone then, but now he can?"

"Yeah, s'why he's here. Wants to save the whole damn world."

Flame thought he understood. "You created him and protected him when he was young, and in return he'll protect you when you're old!" he said triumphantly.

"It's not quite-," Darwyn started, but he was cut off.

"Darwyn!" called Cyprus. "Is dinner ready?"

"Jus' a few minutes, hold your horses!" Darwyn shouted back. "Guess I'll have to tell you about it another time. Run along, kiddo, so I can finish up."

Flame nodded and turned back to the campfire where everyone had gathered. Cyprus glanced up at him, then tossed him a rag.

"You've got blood on your armor."

Blood. That must be the name of the strange liquid the humans were full of.

Today had certainly been educational.


End file.
